Analyzing Comics & Graphic Novels: A Crash Course Dr. des. Martin Mühlheim UZH English Department Thu, January 18, 2018 Cartoon by Tom Gauld (https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8d/d5/96/8dd5968a5f56f18d21ee9493fe909c40--young-adult-books-childrens-literature.jpg, 08.01.2018) 1
gutter frame panel Cartoon by Tom Gauld (https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8d/d5/96/8dd5968a5f56f18d21ee9493fe909c40--young-adult-books-childrens-literature.jpg, 08.01.2018) 2 2
Why is one single image split into three panels? Cartoon by Tom Gauld (https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8d/d5/96/8dd5968a5f56f18d21ee9493fe909c40--young-adult-books-childrens-literature.jpg, 08.01.2018) 3 3
Three Aims for Today 1. Provide useful terminology 2. Give examples for how one can apply and use this terminology 3. Recommend some primary and secondary texts 4
5 Comic strip (by Bill Watterson) Cartoon (by Gary Larson) Comic or graphic novel? (The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Ian Edginton & I. N. J. Culbard) 5
6 (1) Hello bunny! (3) What have you broken this time? (2) Bonsoir kitten! Come, sit down, I ve prepared your favorite yummy. speech bubbles - sequence? - placement? (4) Okay, that s it, he truly knows me. Jeromeuh. ZUT et REZUT. Les petites histoires viriles. Paris: Delcourt, 2011. 14. Also available at www.jeromeuh.net/2010/10/zut-et-rezut (7 September 2017) 6
7 IF I THINK ABOUT IT LOGICALLY IT S NOT AS IF MY BROTHER SUDDENLY CHANGED OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT BUT I GUESS I STARTED THINKING OF HIM.DIFFERENTLY. speech bubbles - rhythm? space - realistic? - conceptual? Gengoroh Tagame. My Brother s Husband. 2014 2017. Vol. 1. Trans. Anne Ishii. New York: Pantheon Books, 2017. 7
8 (1) At night, two strangers on the St Martin canal bridge. (2) distance - zooming in/out drawing style - e.g. silhouettes color - light/dark/... (3) No, Sir. Me, I m homeless. Do you, too, love to escape the madness of Parisian parties to admire the stars? Jeromeuh. Strangers in the Night. Les petites histoires viriles. Paris: Delcourt, 2011. 14. Also available at www.jeromeuh.net/2010/03/strangers-in-the-night (7 September 2017) 8
Gatsby Daisy Jordan Nick Tom Nicki Greenberg. The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Adaptation. 2007. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2009. 9 9
types of characters - human? realistic? individualized? (inter)textuality/-mediality - newspapers, photos, letters... 10 10
11 grid - regular? varied? Wendy & Richard Pini. Elfquest: Archives. 1979 1984. 4 vols. New York: DC Comics, 2003 2007. Also available at http://elfquest.com/read/digitaleq.html (09.01.2018) 11
12 color palette - locally (e.g. to separate sequences) - throughout: bleak colors? bright? varied? 12
13 page architecture - meaning / function (e.g. emphasis? - visual echoes? - on the whole: varied or regular? 13
14 14
15 frames - e.g. wavy lines to mark memory / past color - tone of speech & thoughts 15
16 frames - absent frames? panel - shape? - size? splash page 16
17 two-page spread 17
functional - What narrative or communicative function do the visual codes serve? 18 vs. aesthetic - Do the images take on a life of their own, beyond mere narrative function? Chris Thompson. Habibi. London: Faber and Faber, 2011. (not necessarily suitable for teaching) 18
Other Teachable Primary Texts - de Seve, Mike & Daniel Burwen Operation Ajax (2011) historical (coup in Iran, Cold War) - Evans, Kate Threads: From the Refugee Crisis (2017) reportage - Greenberg, Nicki The Great Gatsby (2007) & Hamlet (2010) adaptations - Hamilton, Tim Fahrenheit 451 (2009) adaptation, dystopia - Lewis, John et al. The March (3 vols., 2013 2016) historical (racism, Civil Rights Movement) - Millar, Mark et al. Superman: Red Son (2003) rewriting, dystopia, alternate history (Cold War) - Moon, Fábio and Gabriel Bá Daytripper (2010) philosophical ( meaning of life ) - McGuire, Richard Here (2014) philosophical (historical change) - Rapp, Adam & Mike Cavallaro, Decelerate Blue (2017) dystopia, LGBTQ, coming of age - Rowntree, Winston Waiting (2016) illness, time travel, philosophical ( meaning of life ) - Spiegelman, Art Maus (1980 1991) Holocaust, trauma, autobiography/memoir Dr. des. Martin Mühlheim m.muehlheim@es.uzh.ch 19
Recommended Secondary Sources - Abel, Julia & Christian Klein. Comics und Graphic Novels: Eine Einführung. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 2016. [esp. chapter 4: Leitfaden zur Comicanalyse. ] - Horstkotte, Silke. Zooming In and Out: Panels, Frames, Sequences, and the Building of Graphic Storyworlds. From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory of Graphic Narrative. Ed. Daniel Stein and Jan-Noël Thon. Narratologia 37. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2013. 27 48. - McCloud, Scot. Understanding Comics. 1993. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994. Dr. des. Martin Mühlheim m.muehlheim@es.uzh.ch 20
Vocabulary from Film Studies: Also Useful Film and Adaptation: A Toolbox (Wednesday, April 18, 2018) - How to analyze films: key concepts, with examples - Adapting classics: comparing different versions - Reading screenplays, watching films - Non-fiction: documentaries in the classroom - The problem of sound enrol by March 18, 2018 www.weiterbildung.uzh.ch/programme/wbmat_detail.php?angebnr=1193 Image: The Peanuts Movie (USA 2015) (http://foxdigmarketing-a.akamaihd.net/thumbnails/51/55/51558ce9-4667-46f6-b859-4b7eb31c0eed/thepeanutsmovie_fromsketchtoscreen_1080p_prores_1920x1080_00h.00m.04s.jpg, 08.01.2018) 21